Irish America needs a new first family and not the Kennedys - Camelot dream long since lost as next generation screws it up

Irish America needs a new first family. The Kennedys have become downright creepy.

For generations we were willing to bask in the reflected glow of Camelot and all that, but that afterglow has long vanished.

Now we have a bunch of malcontents, neer do wells, druggies, drunks and downright losers.

Still, we shine the light and hope that it will reflect back on us. No more says I.

Kerry Kennedy is the last straw. Apart from her broken marriage to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, she had rarely been in the headlines. She was a committed human rights worker and a dedicated mother.

Now she’s just another Kennedy problem child (at 52), arrested and allegedly under the influence after a crash in Westchester, New York, where she drove off.

I just don’t get it. There are lots of families born into privilege who end up doing the right things.

The Bushes are one such family. George W. sobered up and became president. Jeb Bush continues to speak eloquently on issues such as immigration. Their kids seem exemplary.

The Kennedys, on the other hand, are unable to handle their wealth and status. I won’t even go into the family’s litany of accidents, overdoses, etc. It makes depressing reading.

Apart from young Joe Kennedy in Massachusetts, who is running for a congressional seat and seems to have his priorities right, there is very little good to say about individual Kennedys, unfortunately.

Which is why Irish America needs to leave that particular fantasy of another Kennedy dynasty down the road firmly aside.

We need to start looking for new leaders. The Bidens are an example of an upstanding, all American group intensely proud of their Irish heritage for instance.